hardcover
Hardcover

NPRs Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books of All Time

In 2011, NPR set out to make a list of what their listeners believed to be the best science fiction and fantasy books ever written. More than 5,000 people nominated books, then over 60,000 people voted on the best ones. This list is highlights the most popular books voted by NPR readers across these two genres.

#1

The Lord of the Rings

1954 • 1,495 Readers • 1,178 pages 4.5

#2

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

1979 • 3,457 Readers • 215 pages 4.2

#3

Ender's Game

1985 • 2,451 Readers • 256 pages 4.2

#4

Dune

1965 • 4,471 Readers • 704 pages 4.3

#5

A Game of Thrones

1996 • 3,104 Readers • 819 pages 4.4

#6

1984

1949 • 5,483 Readers • 352 pages 4.2

#7

Fahrenheit 451

1953 • 3,490 Readers • 227 pages 3.9

#9

Brave New World

1930 • 2,888 Readers • 332 pages 3.9

#10

American Gods

2001 • 2,497 Readers • 635 pages 4

#11

The Princess Bride

1973 • 1,257 Readers • 465 pages 4.2

#12

The Eye of the World

1990 • 1,862 Readers • 708 pages 4

#13

Animal Farm

1945 • 3,892 Readers • 122 pages 4

#14

Neuromancer

1984 • 1,709 Readers • 271 pages 3.9

#15

Watchmen

1987 • 1,245 Readers • 415 pages 4.4

#16

I, Robot

1950 • 1,127 Readers • 304 pages 4.1

#17

Stranger in a Strange Land

1961 • 834 Readers • 422 pages 3.7

#18

The Name of the Wind

1 • 2,576 Readers • 669 pages 4.4

#19

Slaughterhouse 5

1968 • 2,282 Readers • 292 pages 4.1

#20

Frankenstein

181 • 2,480 Readers • 353 pages 3.8

#21

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

1968 • 1,641 Readers • 223 pages 3.9

#22

The Handmaid's Tale

1985 • 2,715 Readers • 324 pages 4.1

#23

The Gunslinger

1976 • 1,550 Readers • 238 pages 3.6

#24

2001: A Space Odyssey

1968 • 1,009 Readers • 251 pages 4

#25

The Stand

1978 • 1,498 Readers • 1,553 pages 4.2

#26

Snow Crash

1992 • 1,425 Readers • 448 pages 3.9

#27

The Martian Chronicles

20 • 865 Readers • 182 pages 4

#28

Cat's Cradle

1963 • 1,096 Readers • 192 pages 4.1

#29

#30

A Clockwork Orange

1962 • 1,360 Readers • 149 pages 3.9

#31

Starship Troopers

1959 • 643 Readers • 353 pages 3.7

#32

Watership Down

1972 • 807 Readers • 478 pages 4.1

#33

Dragonflight

1968 • 383 Readers • 347 pages 3.8

#34

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

1966 • 550 Readers • 288 pages 3.8

#35

A Canticle for Leibowitz

1959 • 558 Readers • 334 pages 3.9

#36

The Time Machine

1894 • 1,097 Readers • 140 pages 3.7

#37

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

1866 • 601 Readers • 394 pages 3.5

#38

Flowers for Algernon

19 • 1,635 Readers • 311 pages 4.3

#39

The War of the Worlds

715 Readers 3.8

#40

Nine Princes in Amber

1970 • 288 Readers • 175 pages 3.6

#41

Pawn of Prophecy

1982 • 417 Readers • 262 pages 3.9

#43

Mistborn: The Final Empire

2006 • 3,333 Readers • 534 pages 4.4

#44

Ringworld

1970 • 543 Readers • 288 pages 3.7

#45

The Left Hand of Darkness

1969 • 1,253 Readers • 267 pages 4.1

#46

The Silmarillion

1977 • 900 Readers • 481 pages 4

#47

The Once and Future King

1958 • 476 Readers • 650 pages 3.8

#48

Neverwhere

1996 • 1,446 Readers • 480 pages 4.1

#49

Childhood's End

1953 • 669 Readers • 212 pages 4

#50

Contact

1985 • 581 Readers • 453 pages 4.1

#51

Hyperion

1989 • 1,694 Readers • 481 pages 4.3

#52

Stardust

1997 • 1,166 Readers • 248 pages 4

#53

Cryptonomicon

1999 • 665 Readers • 1,152 pages 4.2

#54

World War Z

2006 • 1,129 Readers • 355 pages 3.9

#55

The Last Unicorn

1968 • 415 Readers 3.9

#56

The Forever War

1974 • 764 Readers • 218 pages 4

#57

Small Gods

1992 • 507 Readers • 388 pages 4.3

#58

Lord Foul's Bane

1977 • 247 Readers • 369 pages 3.2

#59

Shards of Honour

1986 • 267 Readers • 272 pages 3.9

#60

Going Postal

2004 • 467 Readers • 422 pages 4.4

#61

The Mote in God's Eye

1974 • 326 Readers 3.8

#62

Wizard's First Rule

18 • 501 Readers • 848 pages 3.7

#63

The Road

1974 • 1,857 Readers • 287 pages 4

#64

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

2004 • 1,188 Readers • 865 pages 4

#65

I Am Legend

1954 • 741 Readers • 312 pages 3.9

#66

Magician: Apprentice

1982 • 572 Readers • 485 pages 4

#67

The Sword of Shannara

1976 • 325 Readers • 670 pages 3.2

#68

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian

2003 • 72 Readers • 464 pages 3.9

#69

Assassin's Apprentice

1995 • 984 Readers • 400 pages 4.1

#70

The Time Traveler's Wife

2003 • 1,066 Readers • 522 pages 3.9

#71

The Way of Kings

2010 • 2,801 Readers • 1,007 pages 4.6

#72

Voyage Au Centre de La Terre

2001 • 319 Readers • 64 pages 3.7

#73

Homeland

1990 • 324 Readers • 343 pages 4

#74

Old Man's War

2005 • 1,058 Readers • 320 pages 4.2

#76

Rendezvous with Rama

1973 • 691 Readers • 112 pages 4

#77

Kushiel's Dart

2001 • 309 Readers • 930 pages 3.9

#78

The Dispossessed

1974 • 894 Readers • 400 pages 4.2

#79

Something Wicked This Way Comes

1962 • 548 Readers • 232 pages 3.9

#80

#81

Gardens of the Moon

1999 • 1,117 Readers • 559 pages 4

#82

The Eyre Affair

2001 • 413 Readers • 387 pages 3.9

#83

Consider Phlebas

1987 • 691 Readers • 544 pages 3.6

#84

The Crystal Cave

1970 • 148 Readers • 514 pages 3.9

#85

Anathem

2008 • 575 Readers • 1,092 pages 4.2

#86

Furies of Calderon

2004 • 438 Readers 3.8

#87

The Shadow of the Torturer

1980 • 491 Readers • 276 pages 3.7

#88

Heir to the Empire

1991 • 423 Readers • 404 pages 4.1

#89

Outlander

1991 • 892 Readers • 627 pages 3.9

#90

Elric of Melniboné

1972 • 299 Readers • 24h 12m 3.4

#91

The Illustrated Man

1901 • 340 Readers • 244 pages 3.9

#92

Sunshine

2003 • 128 Readers • 476 pages 3.6

#93

A Fire Upon the Deep

2010 • 534 Readers • 624 pages 4

#94

The Caves of Steel

1952 • 403 Readers • 200 pages 3.9

#95

Red Mars

1992 • 526 Readers • 671 pages 3.8

#96

Lucifer's Hammer

1977 • 163 Readers • 642 pages 3.7

#97

Doomsday Book

1992 • 413 Readers • 593 pages 3.8

#98

Perdido Street Station

2000 • 597 Readers • 24h 9m 4

#99

A Spell for Chameleon

1977 • 153 Readers • 344 pages 3.2

#100

Out of the Silent Planet

1938 • 258 Readers • 155 pages 3.8